TRAVERSE CITY — “Suicide is a real risk, depression’s a real risk and I wish it was something that was made up because it wouldn’t happen so frequently,” said Psycho-therapist Daniel Herd.
September is Suicide Awareness Month and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last year more than 49,000 Americans took their own lives.
Signs of suicide are wide ranging and very from person to person.
“No one’s going to show up at your door banging on doors, saying I’m suicidal, help me get to someplace,” said Herd.
Over the last three years the number of suicides in the U.S. has increased, the CDC said one person dies every 11 minutes from suicide.
Mental health professionals say some of the most important things to watch for in loved ones are growing hopelessness and detachment from things they once enjoyed.
Traverse City therapist Daniel Herd said when a loved one comes to you with suicidal thoughts, there are a few ways to handle the situation.
He suggests remaining calm and judgement free, staying with them and ultimately encouraging them to get professional care.
“We now have the emergency access center over at Munson. So, the Emergency Access Center is now 24/7 365 days a year,” said Herd. “They can’t fully service everybody, but they are a great one stop shop as far as a first go to say if I’m not actively bleeding, if I’m not actively needing medical care, but I’m in a psychiatric emergency, I can stop by there.”
Herd said there are a variety of reasons people may stay silent when needing help.
‘I’m a burden. If I say that I have problems,” said Herd. “We look at depression as an indicator of suicide, when really the bigger indicators of suicide are hopelessness and erratic or impulsive behavior.”
Myths regarding suicide are plentiful and they contribute to reasons people may be hesitant to come forward and seek help.
“These are people that are either weak or this is something that kind of happens related to childhood trauma,” said Herd. “There’s a lot of myths that show up. Rather than saying, this is a natural occurrence as part of the spectrum of how depression and some other disorders, especially medical conditions, affect people,”
If you or a loved is suicidal call 988 for help.